The Salvation Stone
by The Mad Writer
Summary: Frank and Alice are simple theater students studying in London. What happens when a visit to Cardiff leads to the adventure of a lifetime? Rating changed due to mild nudity.
1. Through the Rift

A/N: This is a shameless Mary/Gary Sue. The only guarantee is that it will be better than Twilight. Takes place between "Journey's End" and "The Next Doctor." DON'T JUDGE ME!!! :P

The Salvation Stone

"OK, one more! Pretend you've spotted the pterodactyl."

Frank obliged Alice with an open mouthed smile of horror while he held his hands up to frame his face in mock shock. Alice snapped the picture giggling merrily as he changed the pose up to pointing into the sky.

"You have got to let me see those, lover," Frank said when he was done being posing. Alice put the camera on slideshow and handed it to her friend. Finally after 3 months of studying in London the two young Americans had finally been able to put aside a day in their theatre studies for a trip to Cardiff. They had been able to find their way with only minimal "adventures" as they searched for the bay area that was used as the fictional location of the Torchwood hub. It had been a blast picking out all the tiny details that the two had gleaned from their almost obsessive watching of Doctor Who and Torchwood.

Frank laughed as he looked at the pictures they had taken with his camera.

"Alright now your turn, pretend you're looking for the TARDIS. Alice struck her best "where the hell is it?" pose as Frank snapped away. When the two had finally exhausted all the ideas they had before the pictures were to wind up on Facebook, Frank and Alice walked to the edge of the bay to simply enjoy the view of the water. Their time in England was quickly coming to a close, one more month and then it would be back to humdrum St. Paul to finish the year and graduation in the spring. In the three months that had passed already in their spare time Frank and Alice had spent as much time as possible sightseeing all the historical inches (and honestly what part of England was historical), Oxford, Stratford-on-Avon, spent probably a week searching London alone, and were only now being true nerds and checking out the Doctor Who sights, Cardiff being top on the list. After taking a few more shots with each other, this time more "normal" for the two it was unanimously agreed upon that is was time to hit up some local Welsh cuisine (if you could call it that – if the saying had any truth, the cooks in heaven HAD to be French).

Alice hooked her arm through Frank's as the two headed in a randomly chosen direction deciding that the first place they saw that was a local eatery no matter what it served would be where their appetites would be satiated. Looking through the pictures one more time and laughing at all the things they were going to be able to tell their friends about, the two hardly noticed the bright white light that appeared above their heads. As Frank scrolled through the pictures though, the camera began to fizzle. "What's wrong," asked Alice, peering at the oddly flickering screen. "No clue." Frank shook the camera and started fiddling with the buttons. Neither was paying any attention as the light grew stronger and stronger, until finally it reflected off of the camera's now dead screen back into their eyes blinding them for a moment before disappearing completely.

"What the heck was that," Frank exclaimed? "I swear, this place has weirder weather then anywhere in the Midwest." Frank continued fiddling with his camera trying to figure out the problem, but Alice had discovered a whole new problem. She dropped his arm and wandered a few steps trying to reclaim her voice as Frank continued to mumble insults at the now defunct camera.

"Frank…"

"I paid good money for this, there's no reason for it not to be working!"

"Frank."

"I hope the warranty is still good for this thing, will the SD card be ok? If it is it's not so bad if the camera - "

"FRANK!"

"What?!" Frank looked up and got his answer. Where buildings had once been, forests now stood, open fields of grass, turning around, a beach with waves gently lapping at the shore where moments before had been a railed dock. Frank dropped the camera, its malfunctioning completely forgotten as he stumbled towards Alice, at a loss for words. The two looked around in total shock.

"Where are we?" Alice whispered.


	2. 1960 years later

A/N: You know it's been so long since I wrote a fanfic that I don't know if disclaimers are still popular or not. Well, I disclaim this.

1960 years later

The TARDIS warped into existence just outside of the Torchwood hub. The old girl needed a good fuel up. Just happening to answer Jack's call had no influence on the trip to Cardiff whatsoever. The Doctor had less then a foot out of the TARDIS before he heard Jack's greeting.

"You know I called two months ago."

"Yeah, well, riding woolly mammoths was a bit more interesting at the time. That and helping Picasso with his Blue period, inventing a cure for the common cold and being crowned King of the Carlacks. Interesting people the Carlacks, bit too beardy though."

The old friends gave each other a warm hug before stepping onto the hub's invisible lift to head down into the main base of Torchwood Three. "Gwen, Ianto! Time to behave yourselves, we've got company!"

Gwen looked up from the latest map of Weevil activity to see Jack and the Doctor descending. "Hello Doctor! Jack I didn't think we needed to bring out the heaviest guns for Weevils."

"Gwyneth, Gwen, good to see you girl," the Doctor returned the greeting as he hopped off the platform. "Nope, Jack just happened to leave an elusive message that apparently I'll find interesting. But then again, that's me, everything's interesting! Shiny object, yep it's interesting."

"I've got it up in my office. Gwen, I want that report on my desk yesterday."

The Doctor gave Gwen a mock salute as he followed after Jack up to the second level office. Jack finally asked the tough question when the Doctor had closed the door behind him. "Still no one? Not even in passing?"

"Oh their always in passing," the Doctor replied. Jack gave him a look. The Doctor sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, probably the closest thing to a comb that it had seen recently. "Martha keeps an eye on her. She's doing well, temping again, boyfriend, - "

"So where's the special artifact that you were so keen to show me?" The Doctor as usual had no interest in speaking of things that would do nothing less then rip his hearts apart.

Jack didn't say anything as he pulled a large square object covered in cloth out of his locker of the most valuable – and dangerous - alien artifacts. "We got our hands on this two months ago, right before I called you. It made quiet the local stir. A couple of archaeologists found it near the location of a supposed Roman outpost. Standard stone block of course, what made the stir though was this." Jack had set down the stone on his desk and took off the cloth. The Doctor put on his glasses and took a look at the stone that Jack was so keen on. There in large dark reddish black letters were four words: "PLEASE SAVE US, DOCTOR."

"Now that, that is definitely not Latin," the Doctor said as he looked at the stone.

"It was considered a hoax, that the archaeologists were frauds. But we double checked with our equipment, including several alien ones. The words are written in a mixture of blood and dirt and the date is the same as the stone. Close to 50 AD."

"Now this, this is interesting Jack. Looks like I'm headed to 50 AD as soon as the TARDIS is done refueling." The Doctor whipped off his glasses and headed towards the office door.

"Doctor," Jack called. The Doctor stopped his hand on the door knob. "Was there something else? A tea kettle from the future with my name on it?"

Jack tried to think of something, anything to say, but found that he couldn't. "Have a safe trip," he ended lamely. The Doctor smiled and headed off.

Later that day Gwen brought her report to Jack. She found Jack sitting at his desk fiddling with a rubber band and staring at the stone, an uncharacteristically grim look on his face. Since losing Tosh and Owen, Gwen had felt the ability to bring any sort of comforting words to the team leader slowly slipping away, but for once she wasn't going to let the new habit of silence stop her, even if the words couldn't be a comfort. "I'm not going to say that I know him well, but he doesn't seem like himself. There's a falsehood behind those eyes now that wasn't there in the brief moment I met him before."

Jack tossed the rubber band onto his desk before wrapping up the large stone. "I get the feeling that he blames himself. Donna was a true equal to him, one he probably hadn't had in a long time. And now, with her gone, I think he's feeling the weight of all their lives." Gwen didn't ask why that last part was in the plural. From her own research about the Doctor, there had been many who had shared his travels. Had all their lives changed as completely as Martha, Jack, and Donna?

"You only showed him one stone? What about the other?" Gwen asked as Jack put the stone away.

"The other one would have counted as a spoiler," Jack replied and shut the locker.


	3. 51 AD

A/N: Sorry this update took so long. I'm at a bit of a writer's block for this story. I know where it'll go, it's just the getting there part. LOL Also please excuse my historical inaccuracies. The real Roman fort that was in Cardiff was actually made in 55 AD. ^_^* I will try better in the future to maintain accuracy in my fics.

51 AD

The Doctor peered out of the TARDIS door. From the looks of things the TARDIS had decided to behave itself and actually landed exactly where it was meant to: the back alley of rain soaked Roman fortress. Perfect! Chickens squabbled in the distance while the sounds of hammering from the blacksmith, soldiers practicing, and the local citizens going about their daily lives filled the air. The Doctor hopped over the worst of the street muck as he came out to the main streets. Nothing out of the ordinary, nothing at all in fact that would have brought the Doctor here on any other occasion; it was simply too normal.

"Make way for the Bride of Helios!" Now that was more like it. A procession was coming from the main keep through the main street of the fortress. Slaves carried a golden palanquin with gauzy red curtains. Guards marched at the sides while the herald continued to proclaim the "Bride's" coming. As the Doctor watched dozens of people stopped what they were doing to come and watch the parade. Many bowed in homage while others seemed to be caught in rapture at her passing. One woman broke from the others worshippers and charged at the procession, a small bundle in her outstretched arms. Two of the guards stopped her before she could get to the so called "Bride."

"My Lady please! It is my child! Save her please!" Tears streamed down the woman's face as she tried to push the small bundle of her child through the blockade of the guards. Through the palanquin's curtains a voice came: "Let her approach." The guards lowered the spears and the woman moved into the inner ring. As the palanquin was lowered a slave pulled back the curtains revealing the owner of the voice. The Doctor couldn't help but notice that the woman was plain more then anything else. Mousy brown hair pulled back in what he assumed was the most recent fashion and crowned with a golden coronet, a sun at the center. Her face was freckled and her nose was rather flat. Not particularly tall either the Doctor noted, but even the Doctor felt that despite her lack of physical beauty there was a strong charisma to her. Rising from her throne the Bride took the woman's child from her.

The Bride looked out and addressed the people. "My children! Know this: That all who come to Me shall be rewarded for their devotion to my husband, the Great Helios! Trust in the might of His Light and be saved!" The roar from the crowd was deafening. As they cheered the Bride removed the dressing needle on her right shoulder letting the golden fabric of her dress fall revealing her breast. Raising the needle for all to see, she thrust it into her exposed bosom letting loose a stream of blood to match the palanquin curtains. A slave took the bloodied needle while the Bride held the infant to suckle at her breast. The mother's hands were clasped as she watched her infant suckle the Bride. Within moments a small cry came from the bundle and the mother's face turned to joy. "Let the Bride of Helios be praised! She has not made a sound in days! Thank you, thank you!" The woman continued to make obeisance to the Bride as she returned the child to the mother who returned to the crowd, rejoicing in the healing of her daughter. As the Bride replaced the fabric of her dress only the Doctor noticed that where a stab wound should have been only smooth skin was left. "Now that is interesting. Very interesting." With that performance done the Bride returned to her seat and the procession continued on its way.

The Doctor ran across the street to speak with the woman about her child and maybe to get some answers about this Bride. The woman was still surrounded by townspeople all exclaiming, many trying to get close enough to touch the blanket that held now wailing infant. "Excuse me, very official business here." The Doctor pushed through the crowd to the woman flashing his psychic paper to her. Good thing it showed images as well. The chances of these people being able to read were nil. "Hello I'm the Doctor. If I may?" "Of course my Lord," the woman replied handing her child to the Doctor. "There you go, you're alright," The Doctor spoke to the baby as he ran his sonic screwdriver over her. The crowed began to dispel with the Doctor's monopoly of the mother and infant. "So tell me, what's your name?" "I am Zea, my daughter is Laveda." "And tell me Zea, who is this Bride? Why go to her for help?" The Doctor passed Laveda back to Zea having finished examining her. "You do not know the Bride of Helios? Why she is our Savior! She descended from on high a year ago in the Chariot of her husband the great Helios. Her blood heals all and she promises to lead us to a new age of glory. Just look at my Laveda! For a week she did not make a sound, she ate scarcely a drop, and now she cries lustily." The Doctor nodded. "Thank you Zea. It seems I should go and pay my own respects to the Bride." Zea smiled at the Doctor before heading on her own way. The Doctor turned and marched straight to the fort's keep.


End file.
